Re: [pca] SunSolve updated -- improved patch downloading

[Don O'Malley]

Hi Glen, Replies inline (with DOM> prefixed for non-http enabled clients)... Glen Gunselman wrote: I apologize to the list for the parts of this post that are not PCA (or patch) related.  I will endeavor to keep on topic in the future :).     Don,   Thanks for the info.   I have few questions/concerns:   1.  my SunSolve home page (http://sunsolve.sun.com/show.do?target=home) has no "Edit Contract" link.  There are links to "View/Edit Notifications" and "Edit Personal Information", but no "Edit Contract". DOM> Currently users registered in the Members Support Center do not have an option to "Edit Contract"   2.  Document 240066 under Please note: says:   b. wget should be run from the same system as the SunSolve License Agreeement was accepted. c. If cookies are cleared, the SunSolve License Agreeement must be manually re-accepted. Does this mean I will need a browser on each server where I use wget (pca) to download patches? DOM> No, this only need to be done once period (possibly once per machine, but my experience so far suggests that it's once per SOA).   3.  Miriam Brace's blog (http://blogs.sun.com/miriamsblog/entry/sunsolve_7_3_is_live)is good and useful but I thought the Patch Corner blog (http://blogs.sun.com/patch/) was the definitive blog source for patch related information.  What gives? DOM> Miriam Brace is a Business Owner for SunSolve (hosting patches, etc) and is involved with the MSC also. The changes were made on the SunSolve side, hence Miriam's blog. DOM> Gerry Haskins (my boss) is a Director of Software Patch Services. Gerry is originally based on the Engineering side (creating, testing & releasing patches), though this is changing by the day! DOM> Gerry has blogged on this too - see http://blogs.sun.com/patch/entry/new_sunsolve_release_wget_and     4.  As to the Member Support Center (member is singular :) ) I thought Sun maintained the contract information and account(s) are related to contract(s) (my Global Search/Active returns 14 contracts) by "Party ID".  How will I know when changes are made that effect wget usage? DOM> I am currently trying to get some clarification on this myself! DOM> My understanding was that for MSC users, contract changes would take 6 hours to come into affect, but I will confirm and come back to you.     (the following aren't particularity patch related) 5.  This week I printed a "print friendly" page.  I don't remember if it was a "SunSolve" page but it used the floating "[+] FEEDBACK" and the printed page included the "[+] FEEDBACK" over the top of the page text.  Not helpful. DOM> I'll pass this one on!   6. There doesn't seem to be any list(s)/forum(s) where users of Sun's support infrastructure exchange information.  The there are only 7 posts to "SunSpectrum Community Service Managment Best Practices" (http://forums.sun.com/forum.jspa?forumID=904) since Oct 2007.  Sun keeps tweaking the one way (customer to Sun) options and I've used some of them - [+] FEEDBACK and Voice of Customer (look for sysglen) come to mind. When I use a Sun resource and do not find the answer I need, how to I know whether I misused the resource, used the wrong resource, maybe Sun doesn't intend the resource to answer my particular question, the resource is having a bad day and I should just try again later?  As a (relatively) new customer, I have found it impossible to find a reliable resource for getting answers to many of my Sun related questions. DOM> This is quite a timely observation :) DOM> We are currently in the process of setting up a Patch Forum (on forums.sun.com). DOM> The primary purpose of the Patch Forum to enable discussion on Patching Strategy and Best Practices with peers and Sun folk, including potential enhancements to improve your patching experience.  It is important to note that this is not an official Support channel. To ensure optimal support, you must continue to raise Service Requests for specific patching issues through the normal support channels, although there will be a "Patch Issues" Topic on the forum to see if others have experienced similar issues and know of workarounds or available fixes.  As with other forums of this nature, Sun will not guarantee to answer all questions posted.   7.  When will the feedback process support screen shots?  It's very hard/impossible to explain in an email some of the problems that I have encountered. DOM> Good point. I'll pass this one on too.     (is it too early in the week to start thinking about having a good weekend?) DOM> Nope :) Best, -Don         Glen Gunselman Systems Software Specialist TCS Emporia State University >>> "Don O'Malley" <don.omal...@sun.com> 8/13/2009 6:06 AM >>> Hi Craig, Yeah, this is good news. The new system went live on Tuesday. Hopefully this should see an end to the "ERROR 500" problems that pca users where sporadically hitting for a long time now. I have been monitoring the new service since it has gone live and it really does seem to be highly reliable so far. One key point to note is that there will be a delay of up to 8 hours for wget users after they associate a new contract with their SOA (via the "Edit Contract" link) on SunSolve. This is detailed in the Technical Instruction document for wget users - http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-9-240066-1. (It is however expected that the advertised 8 hour delay, should behave closer to a one hour delay in practice.) There is one other important point for pca users registered in the Members Support Center from this document: "For users registering or updating contracts on the Member Support Center, an initial wget access must be attempted to trigger the synchronization process." I believe that the new download service will make a massive difference to pca users with the huge reliability improvements it brings. Best, -Don